Tag Archives: PA school

Congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance into medical school. Like the first day of kindergarten, this launch is notable for parents as well as children. You may have some concerns about the stresses she will face. Having been there, I can tell you there will be many. Not to worry, though. Times are changing.

So begins an open letter to the parents of female medical students (but really written for the students themselves, natch) by Dr. Kathy Stepien writing for the blog KevinMD.com. The rest of the message paints a dark picture of what women faced in the bad old days in medical school, residency and beyond: Rampant sexism, extending from hazing and mockery to outright assault and career sabotage.

We asked recent MPH alum Mey Saephan some questions about her time here at Touro — What did you find helpful? What did you find not helpful? What do you wish you knew before starting? — and this is what she had to say!

Public health is a broad field. Graduating with an MPH enables to you help people and hone in your skillset. Here are a few tips for how to be successful while you are here at Touro, finding your career path.

PA school requires a whole new set of study tools from your tool belt. Maybe you thought you had finally figured out what worked for you in undergrad, or while completing another master’s program. Don’t freak out, but welcome back to the beginning.

The pace is faster, the materials are more difficult, and the standards are higher. It’s okay, have your moment of freakout. But then take a step back and try and understand what Touro will help you become: Bigger, better, faster, stronger — wait wait wait . . . that’s Kanye, retract that! In all honesty, though, at the end of this program you will be faster. A faster thinker, a quicker test taker, someone whose synapses are firing and connecting more rapidly than the med students’ standing next to you on rotations.

Shay Patel is a top student in Touro University California’s MSPAS/MPH program.

The pace of learning here at TUC is intense, which can sometimes be overwhelming even for those who have excelled at previous levels of education. We regularly ask students who are at the top of their class to tell us what study strategies they use to keep up. Here are Shay’s top tips:

1) Go over the lectures in depth and look up the material that you don’t understand as you go through the lecture so you stay engaged and don’t miss key points. Continue reading →

I attribute my success in Touro’s Physician Assistant program to the people I have surrounded myself with and the study group we have formed. I was a “solo studier” in undergrad, knowing the things I knew, but never challenging myself on the things I did not know. Entering grad school I did not anticipate forming a study group. Continue reading →